A new document that explains the business case behind today's aggressive wireless multimedia interoperability movement is now publicly available on the Web, announced Stardust.com, a subsidiary of Penton Media, Inc. The Business Case for Wireless Multimedia Services is available free of charge at http://www.wmmforum.com.
The Internet is transporting growing volumes of rich content, including streaming video and audio, multimedia messaging and interactive videoconferencing. This content is poised to spill over from traditional wired Internet connections onto quickly proliferating mobile IP networks. These include today's circuit-switched wireless infrastructures that run at speeds below 20 Kbps, as well as tomorrow's packet-switched 2.5G and 3G networks that will eventually reach multimegabit speeds.
The Business Case for Wireless Multimedia Services speaks to content and application service developers, wireless and wired IP network service providers, makers of network infrastructure equipment and mobile communication device manufacturers about the profit potential of the interoperability efforts underway by the Wireless Multimedia Forum (WMF). The business case explains, for example, how these industry players can leverage the WMF's efforts to quickly bring content-rich, high-margin services to a global audience of consumers who access the Internet using any variety of wireless or wired IP client devices over both low- and high-speed networks.
The WMF, an international, 64-company-strong alliance that coordinates its efforts with worldwide standards bodies, began publishing Recommended Technical Framework Documents (RTFDs) for wireless multimedia content and services delivery this year. The RTFDs are critical components in getting all industry players on the same page with key APIs, compression technologies, formats, streaming protocols, and several other technologies fundamental to the successful, interoperable end-to-end delivery of rich IP content. The work enables content providers to author rich media content just once that can be delivered to any IP device over any IP network.
The WMF expects its initial RTFD 1.0 specifications for streaming media delivery, published in January, to be implemented in commercial products by late this year.
"Rich content that can reach a broad set of users with different kinds of wireless devices opens up high-margin business opportunities for content providers and the other players on down the wireless multimedia supply chain," said Martin Hall, chairman of the WMF. "For example, network operators worldwide that have spent billions on wireless spectrum must soon begin earning revenues on their investments. Coalescence around basic technologies worldwide will enable them to reap that ROI much more quickly than would a fragmented market."
Among the topics covered in The Business Case for Wireless Multimedia Services:
-- New mobile applications on the horizon and which are likely to yield the biggest initial profits
-- Mobile market numbers
-- How WMF's prevention of standards fragmentation will speed profitable new services to market
-- Cultural market considerations around the world
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